Karl-Anthony Towns might be final piece in Knicks championship
Karl-Anthony Towns was traded to the Knicks from the Minnesota Timberwolves late Friday night. Credit: Getty Images
On paper, it’s easy to see the fit, to make sense of the reasoning.
Karl-Anthony Towns gives the Knicks an answer to their glaring hole at center, a four-time All-Star who is a knockdown three-point shooter, able to stretch defenses. And Vegas can see it, too, shifting the Knicks’ championship odds favorably in the wake of the trade that landed Towns on Friday night.
ESPN BET moved the Knicks’ championship odds from +800 to +700, behind only the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder as the choice to win it all.
Even the valuable pieces the Knicks gave up — Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo — can be explained away.
Randle was playing in the final year of his contract and the team was reluctant to hand out the pricey extension he wanted. DiVincenzo was part of a crowded group of guards vying for playing time.
But the game isn’t played on paper. This isn’t fantasy basketball or a video game in which production is locked in with numbers punched into a software program. The Knicks have locked themselves into a new core four and are left to cross their fingers that it works when the season tips off.
If Knicks fans have learned anything in the last four seasons, it’s that they can trust in Leon Rose and his front office. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt by taking a franchise from decades of dysfunction to a smooth-running contender.
And if there are questions about Towns, at least consider that Knicks leadership knows him as well as anyone in the game does.
Rose was Towns’ agent before becoming Knicks president.
William Wesley has been part of Towns’ life since Towns was a high school star at St. Joseph in Metuchen, New Jersey. Wesley helped to orchestrate John Calipari becoming coach of the Dominican National team, which led to Towns joining him at Kentucky.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau became head coach and team president in Minnesota a year after Towns was drafted No. 1 overall. They spent three seasons together.
Knicks senior VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas followed Thibodeau in Minnesota and worked beside Towns for two years.
With Thibodeau’s early tutelage, Towns, 28, has topped 40% from three-point range in five of seven seasons, including 41.6% last season, and has a career average of 10.8 rebounds per game.
So the questions we might have about Towns, the Knicks believe they know the answers. And the answers they have make sense.
The 7-footer fills a need and is set up on a long-term contract, albeit a pricey one. It’s a four-year, $220 million extension that begins this season.
Towns provides the sort of offensive talent the Knicks haven’t had at center since Patrick Ewing. His deficiencies on the defensive end can be covered up by OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, and when Mitchell Robinson returns in January, Towns can shift to the power forward spot he occupied in Minnesota alongside Rudy Gobert.
But this still is speculative, dependent on it all fitting together on the court the way it does on paper. The risk is real, though, because the Knicks saw the chemistry blend for a brief moment last season when, after the trade for Anunoby, it all came together for 14 games.
Randle was at his best, playing the game the team wanted, drawing defenders and kicking to open shooters. The Knicks won 12 of those games before injuries to Randle and Anunoby ruined that mix.
And when it did, it was DiVincenzo who surfaced so many times alongside Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart to carry the Knicks to 50 wins. It was DiVincenzo who provided one of the iconic postseason moments with a game-winning shot against Philadelphia, and he scored 39 points in Game 7 against Indiana in his final game with the Knicks.
Even before the January performance, Randle was a cornerstone of the franchise, the first piece of the rebuild, arriving before Rose and the current front-office group took over. He made three All-Star and two All-NBA teams in his five seasons in New York.
Just two days before the trade, Randle was honored with a court named for him at the new Earl Monroe Renaissance Charter High School in recognition of his financial and supportive contributions in the community.
All that is known about the Knicks now is that Towns and Bridges are newcomers to the mix, Randle and DiVincenzo are out, and with the salary cap constraints, the Knicks are all-in on this group.
As camp begins Monday, they are hopeful that with Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby and Towns all entering their prime and on long-term deals, this will mean a contender for years to come.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
